The Basics of Buying and Selling on eBay - New York Society ...

The Basics of Buying and Selling on eBay

Presented by, George Mu?oz New York Society Library April 30th , 2009

To register: click "register" on main eBay page, fill in basic personal information, and choose a username and password you will use to log in and bid on items.

Ebay offers:

Auctions: the user who offers the highest bid within a specified time frame wins the item.

Buy-it-now: Buyers can choose to pay for the item at a fixed price. Often times, sellers offer items as Buy-it-Now as well as a lower initial auction bid price. Once a bid has been placed, the buy-itnow option is no longer available on the item, and the highest bidder wins the item, as usual.

Best Offer: Buyers can pay the fixed "Buy It Now" price or contact the seller with their own offer.

Want it Now: Lets you post what you want to a forum in the hopes that a seller offers what you need.

My eBay

*can be accessed from the main eBay page.

Summary: sums up all bidding, buying, and selling activity on one web page.

All Buying Watching: the bidding activity of items you are watching, but have not bid on yet. Bidding: items you have already bid on. Bid Assistant: Lets you choose a group of items and bids on your behalf until one item from group is won. Best Offers: items for which you have submitted offers. Won: items you have recently won; gives you payment and feedback status for each item.

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Didn't Win: items you have been outbid on, and the auction is now closed.

All Selling Scheduled: items you have scheduled to be listed at specific date and time. Selling: items you are currently selling. Sold: items you have sold successfully. Unsold: items that were not bid on, and the auction has ended.

Regular vs. Advanced Searching

You can find most items on eBay using basic search keywords. Additional search commands Search commands for more specific searches include: 1. Use quotations around words that you would to be searched in direct order.

2. Use minus sign in front of words you want to exclude from searches. A minus sign may be added to multiple words you want to exclude.

3. If you want to search for either of two words, enter them in parentheses.

4. To search for various endings on a word, use an asterisk, ex: myster* book* - searches the keywords book and books, as well as mystery and mysteries. This is also helpful if you are unsure of the spelling of a word.

5. To search for only a specific spelling of a word, add parentheses, ex: Florida "keys" will pull up titles with the word "keys," but not the word key.

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A combined search example:

This search will pull up all instances of the words "antique" or "antiques," in addition to all instances of "1930's," "1930s" and specific years in the 1930s except for 1934.

OTHER search options for buyers and sellers:

To find helpful other keywords for items you are interested, carefully look at the keywords used in seller's listings. If you notice a user bidding on many of the same items as you, you can check the user's buying history (through their feedback page) and see what other sellers they are buying from. You can see what items he/she has won but not what the buyer is bidding on in the present. Bidder IDs are now kept private.

If you are the seller, find the exact item you are trying to sell, or something very similar, and review how other sellers have described it. Here, a "completed listing" search would help because you could also see the final price of the item.

Tip: use specific search words, try keyword and category searches together and separately, use the "save search" feature once you find a search that works well for you. By clicking on this option you can have emails sent automatically for up to six months to inform you of an item that has been listed that meets your search parameters.

Advanced Search: choose specific buyer locations, find members, or search for "completed listings," or auctions that have already ended.

Ebay acronyms:

Common acronyms used in titles or descriptions include:

B&W: Black and white NWT: New with tags

NWOT: New without tags NIB: New in box

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NRFB: Never removed from box HTF: Hard to find LTD: Limited Edition

OOP: Out of Print VHTF: Very hard to find

Anatomy of a Listing

How to Bid

You may bid for an item at any time during the auction by clicking on "Place Bid" on the item page. You will then be prompted to place your bid amount. You may place a bid at a minimum increment or at the maximum you are willing to pay. eBay will keep your maximum bid private until someone has outbid you.

Example: The current bid on an item is $48.50, with the lowest next bid at $50. You place a maximum bid of $90, but eBay will publicly display $50 as the highest bid. Someone bids $75. You remain the highest bidder, and other bidders will have continue bidding and surpass your $90 bid to become the highest bidder.

Based on your account settings, you may receive emails letting you know when you have been outbid. You may also receive outbid alerts on your

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